Defining the biomedical, environmental and social risk factors for human infection with Plasmodium knowlesi; opportuniti

定义人类感染诺氏疟原虫的生物医学、环境和社会风险因素；

• 批准号: G1100796/1
• 负责人: Chris Drakeley
• 金额: $ 369.13万
• 依托单位: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G1100796%2F1
• 关键词: Defining; biomedical; environmental; social; risk

Malaria is caused by a single celled parasite found predominantly in the blood of its host, and is transmitted between hosts by the bite of a mosquito. Greater than 100 species of malaria exist, infecting many different animals. Until recently, humans were thought to be the natural hosts for 4 malaria species. However, since 2004 reports appeared of malaria infections in humans that are caused by a parasite species found previously in certain types of macaque in Southeast Asia. This species is Plasmodium knowlesi and, although benign in its natural monkey host, it has caused severe and even fatal disease in a proportion of human sufferers.Currently, we know little about the true burden of disease caused by this macaque parasite, or why it has emerged as a human pathogen. Initial descriptions of humans with Plasmodium knowlesi malaria suggested that they had been bitten and infected while working in forested areas, common in many countries of Southeast Asia. However, a more recent study in Malaysian Borneo shows that communities there are also being infected, even though there is little forest in existence. There may be a number of factors related to the environment, the types of mosquito in the area, people?s behaviour or movement and their proximity to troops of macaques that will have an effect on how at risk they are to being infected with Plasmodium knowlesi.We have built a network of researchers with different skills and expertise from the UK, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia to tackle the various knowledge gaps by working together in a concerted approach. We plan to conduct studies in both the Philippines (on Palawan island) and in Sabah, a region of Malaysian Borneo. A larger number of cases of human Plasmodium knowlesi infection have been found in Sabah, compared to Palawan, and we will attempt to find out why communities here seem at higher risk. In treating their infections we can produce guidelines to help other clinicians faced with this disease. We also want to study the macaques, the mosquitoes that transmit the parasite, and the environment in which the infections occur to give us the whole picture and to produce maps that describe the risk factors existing in the different areas. We hope this will provide important information to ministries of health trying to control malaria disease in the affected regions and prevent further outbreaks of malaria originating from primates.

疟疾是由主要存在于宿主血液中的单细胞寄生虫引起的，并通过蚊子叮咬在宿主之间传播。疟疾有 100 多种，感染许多不同的动物。直到最近，人类还被认为是 4 种疟疾的自然宿主。然而，自 2004 年以来，出现了人类感染疟疾的报道，这种感染是由以前在东南亚某些类型的猕猴身上发现的一种寄生虫引起的。这种疟原虫就是诺氏疟原虫，虽然在其天然猴子宿主中是良性的，但它却在一定比例的人类患者中引起了严重甚至致命的疾病。目前，我们对这种猕猴寄生虫引起的疾病的真正负担知之甚少，也不知道为什么它会成为人类病原体。对患有诺氏疟原虫疟疾的人类的初步描述表明，他们是在森林地区工作时被叮咬和感染的，这在东南亚许多国家很常见。然而，马来西亚婆罗洲最近的一项研究表明，尽管那里几乎没有森林，但社区也受到了感染。可能有许多与环境、该地区蚊子类型、人们的行为或活动以及与猕猴群的接近程度相关的因素，这些因素都会影响它们感染诺氏疟原虫的风险。我们建立了一个由来自英国、菲律宾、马来西亚和澳大利亚的具有不同技能和专业知识的研究人员组成的网络，通过协调一致的方式合作来解决各种知识差距。我们计划在菲律宾（巴拉望岛）和马来西亚婆罗洲地区的沙巴州进行研究。与巴拉望岛相比，沙巴州发现了更多的人类诺氏疟原虫感染病例，我们将试图找出为什么这里的社区似乎面临更高的风险。在治疗他们的感染时，我们可以制定指南来帮助其他面临这种疾病的临床医生。我们还想研究猕猴、传播寄生虫的蚊子以及感染发生的环境，以便让我们了解全貌并绘制描述不同地区存在的风险因素的地图。我们希望这将为试图控制受影响地区疟疾疾病并防止源自灵长类动物的疟疾进一步爆发的卫生部提供重要信息。